The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was created in 1984 by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, now known as Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, to honor individuals around the world who have shown great courage and have made a significant contribution to human rights in their country.

In addition to receiving a financial award, laureates can partner with the RFK Center on projects to advance their human rights work, benefiting from the resources and technologies at the foundation's disposal. Some have achieved their goals, some are in exile from their home country. The majority continue to live in their home country and work with the support of the center to establish the human rights they are working for.

Since 1984, awards have been given to 37 individuals and organizations, from 24 countries.

The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights foundation also presents Ripple of Hope Awards annually to business, entertainment, and activist leaders. The name of the award is inspired by Kennedy's Ripple of Hope speech in 1966.[1][2] They first presented the award in 2007.[3]

Laureates

Year Laureate or organization[4][5][6] Country
2023 Parlamento del Pueblo Xinka[7]  Guatemala
2022 Maximilienne Ngo Mbe  Cameroon
Felix Agbor Balla
2021 Guerline Jozef  United States
2020 Alessandra Korap  Brazil
2019 La Unión del Pueblo Entero  United States
Angry Tías & Abuelas of the Río Grande Valley
Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee
2018 Color of Change  United States
International Indigenous Youth Council
March For Our Lives
United We Dream
2017 Alfredo Romero  Venezuela
2016 Just Leadership USA  United States
Andrea C. James
2015 Natalia Taubina  Russia
2014 Adilur Rahman Khan  Bangladesh
2013 Ragia Omran  Egypt
2012 Librada Paz  United States
2011 Frank Mugisha  Uganda
2010 Abel Barrera Hernández  Mexico
2009 Magodonga Mahlangu  Zimbabwe
Women of Zimbabwe Arise
2008 Aminatou Haidar  Western Sahara
2007 Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah  Sudan
2006 Sonia Pierre  Dominican Republic
2005 Stephen Bradberry  United States
2004 Delphine Djiraibe  Chad
2003 Coalition of Immokalee Workers  United States
2002 Loune Viaud  Haiti
2001 Darci Frigo  Brazil
2000 Martin Macwan  India
1999 Michael Kpakala Francis  Liberia
1998 Berenice Celeyta  Colombia
Gloria Florez
Jaime Prieto
Mario Calixto
1997 Sezgin Tanrıkulu  Turkey
Şenal Sarıhan
1996 Anonymous  Sudan
1995 Kailash Satyarthi  India
Nguyen Dan Que  Vietnam
Doan Viet Hoat
1994 Wei Jingsheng  China
Ren Wanding
1993 Bambang Widjojanto  Indonesia
1992 Chakufwa Chihana  Malawi
1991 Avigdor Feldman  Israel
Raji Sourani  Palestine
1990 Amilcar Mendez Urizar  Guatemala
1989 Fang Lizhi  China
1988 Gibson Kamau Kuria  Kenya
1987 Kim Geun-tae  South Korea
In Jae-keun
1986 Zbigniew Bujak  Poland
Adam Michnik
1985 Allan Boesak  South Africa
Beyers Naude
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
1984 CoMadres  El Salvador

Ripple of Hope Award

Year Laureate Country
2023[8] Edwin Barbey Charitable Trust (Peter and Pamela Barbey, and their son Matt)  United States
Fran Drescher
January 6th Select Committee (Representatives Aguilar, Cheney, Kinzinger, Lofgren, Luria, Murphy, Raskin, Thompson, and Schiff)
2022[9] Frank Baker  United States
Brian Moynihan
Michael Polsky  Ukraine
 United States
Bill Russell  United States
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex &
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex 		 United Kingdom
 United States
Volodymyr Zelenskyy  Ukraine
2021[10] Stacey Abrams  United States
José E. Feliciano
Deven Parekh
Hans Vestberg  Sweden
2020[2] Anthony Fauci  United States
Dolores Huerta
Colin Kaepernick
Dan Schulman
Dan Springer
2019[11] Nancy Pelosi  United States
J. K. Rowling†  United Kingdom
Wendy Abrams  United States
Glen Tullman
2018[12] Barack Obama  United States
David Zaslav
Phil Murphy
Bruce D. Broussard
2017[13] Harry Belafonte  United States
Alex Gorsky
Hamdi Ulukaya  Turkey
2016[14][15] Howard Schultz  United States
Joe Biden
Scott Minerd
2015[16][17] Roger Altman  United States
Marianna Vardinoyannis  Greece
Tim Cook  United States
John Lewis
2014[18][19] Donato Tramuto  United States
Hillary Clinton
Robert De Niro
Tony Bennett
2013[3] Muhammad Yunus  Bangladesh
John Boyer  United States
2012[20][21] Taylor Swift  United States
Vincent Mai
2011[3] Al Gore  United States
Dennis Mathisen
2010[3] George Clooney  United States
Robert F. Smith
Marc Spilker
2009[3] Bono  Ireland
Wyclef Jean  Haiti
2008[3] Desmond Tutu  South Africa
Clive Davis  United States
Afsaneh Beschloss  Iran
2007[3] Bill Clinton  United States
Bob Pittman

†=Recipient returned their award.[22][23]

See also

References

  1. ^ Kim, Allen (July 29, 2020). "Kaepernick and Fauci will be honored as Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights award laureates". CNN. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "RFK Human Rights Honors 2020 Ripple of Hope Award Laureates". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Our Past Laureates". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Archived from the original on August 21, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  4. ^ "Human Rights Award". Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Archived from the original on October 23, 2014.
  5. ^ "Venezuela's Alfredo Romero named 2017 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureate". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. August 7, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  6. ^ "Our Lareates". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  7. ^ https://rfkhumanrights.org/awards/human-rights-award-submit-2024/parlamento-del-pueblo-xinka Retrieved 11 December 2023
  8. ^ "2023 Ripple of Hope Award Gala". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  9. ^ "2022 Ripple of Hope Award Gala". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  10. ^ "2021 Ripple of Hope Award Gala". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  11. ^ "Our 2019 Ripple of Hope Awards Gala is December 12!". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  12. ^ "2018 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Laureates Announced". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  13. ^ "2017 Robert F. Kennedy Annual Report" (PDF). Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  14. ^ Diamond, Jamie (November 28, 2016). "US Vice President Joe Biden, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and Guggenheim Partners' Scott Minerd to Receive RFK Human Rights' 2016 Ripple of Hope Award". Politico. Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  15. ^ Westcott, Lucy (December 7, 2016). "Joe Biden compares 2016 to 1968". Newsweek. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  16. ^ Gordon, Amanda (December 9, 2015). "Tim Cook Says the World Needs Robert F. Kennedy-Style Optimism". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  17. ^ "Tim Cook Accepts 2015 Ripple of Hope Award at RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights". MacRumors. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  18. ^ "Dunkirk native receives Robert F. Kennedy 'Ripple of Hope' Award". observertoday.com. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  19. ^ Gallagher, Noel K. (December 17, 2014). "Former Ogunquit selectman gets Kennedy Ripple of Hope award". Press Herald. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  20. ^ "Taylor Swift Honored With RFK Center's Ripple Of Hope Award". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  21. ^ Miller, Julie (December 4, 2012). "The Kennedy Family Fêtes Taylor Swift (But Where Was Ethel?)". Vanity Fair. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  22. ^ "JK Rowling returns award from group linked to Kennedy family". AP NEWS. April 20, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  23. ^ "JK Rowling returns award after Kerry Kennedy criticism". BBC News. August 28, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2021.

External links

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